Worried About Violation, Webber Preps New Campaign Report

Alan Webber's gubernatorial campaign is scrambling to refile its campaign finance disclosure report after SFR inquired about at least 67 instances in which it had listed the names of two donors for one contribution. The reports were due Monday April 14.

Campaign manager Neri Holguin says an attorney advised that the Campaign Reporting Act is "a little vague" about whether that practice is allowed, but they would file an amended report anyway to reflect one donor for each contribution.

"We'll be up all night doing it," she says Monday night.

[Update: The campaign's amended report is on the Secretary of State's website.]

In most of the 67 instances, the campaign disclosure submitted to the secretary of state on April 14 shows, Webber listed husband-and-wife pairs for one contribution. Some of those contributions were below the $250 threshold that triggers campaigns to disclose the name of a donor as well as the "occupation or type of business of any person or entity making contributions."

[Full disclosure: Richard Meeker, publisher of Willamette Week, SFR's sister paper based in Portland, Ore., contributed $1,000 to Webber in the latest report. Meeker is the president of City of Roses, which owns SFR.]

The Campaign Reporting Act states that candidates must report the "names and address of the person or entity to whom an expenditure was made or from whom a contribution was received." Webber listed 933 total contributions, with about 7 percent of those "individual donations" listed as coming from two people.

Webber is among a handful of Democrats seeking the party nomination in the June 3 primary. Howie Morales, also seeking the job in that race, listed two contributors for one contribution in at least 15 instances. But with one exception, those contributions were all under the $250 disclosure threshold. The exception was a $1,000 contribution from Charlotte and Richard Griffin of Silver City. For that contribution, "contractor" is listed as the occupation, but it's unclear whether Richard or Charlotte is a contractor.

Democratic gubernatorial Lawrence Rael lists two contributors for one contribution in at least four cases. The only one over the $250 threshold is a $1,500 contribution from David and Patricia Wall of Albuquerque. "Contractor" is the only occupation listed for the two.

The two other Democratic candidates, Linda Lopez and Gary King, listed individual contributors for individual contributions. So did SusanaPAC, a pro-Martinez political action committee. A sampling of Gov. Susana Martinez' hundreds of donors yields the same result.

Holguin maintains the campaign was not trying to skirt any regulations and it's being "as diligent as possible" in refiling an amended report.

The secretary of state's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Santa Fe Reporter